University of Hawaii and Board of Water Supply Agree to Conserve Water

Water consumption expected to be cut by 10 percent on campus

HONOLULU — The University of Hawai'i (UH) and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) have signed a memorandum of understanding to participate and educate UH students in a cooperative program for reducing water and wastewater use at the UH Mānoa campus. The partnership‘s first order of business will be to replace all faucets, shower heads and toilets with low-flow fixtures which are expected to reduce water consumption by 10 percent annually.

"Conservation truly is critical to maintaining our way of life in Hawai‘i, and I am so pleased that the UH Community has taken a leadership role in this area, said UH President Evan S. Dobelle. "UH Manoa is one of the Island‘s biggest consumers of water and that means it is up to us to be a role model to the rest of Hawaii in conserving this precious resource."

The university is one of the leading consumers of water on the island. It is estimated that the UH Mānoa campus uses 367 million gallons of water per year or about a million gallons a day. Water usage costs the university approximately $1.5 million annually. Reducing water consumption by just 10 percent would equate to a savings of 37 million gallons of water and nearly $146,000.

Other programs and projects are also being considered. They include water audits, low-flow fixture retrofits, sub-metering, leak detection, landscaping techniques, drip irrigation, rain catchments systems, storm water runoff retention basins, water conservation educations and outreach programs.